The present invention relates to a motor-driven compressor.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-201108 describes an example of a typical motor-driven compressor including a compression unit, which compresses and discharges a refrigerant, an electric motor, which drives the compression unit, and a motor driver, which drives the electric motor. The motor driver includes switching elements. The switching elements perform switching operations so that the motor driver converts DC voltage of a battery (DC power supply) to AC drive voltage and applies the drive voltage to the electric motor to drive the electric motor.
The switching elements generate heat when performing switching operations. For example, when the switching operation of a switching element generates a large amount of heat, the temperature of the switching element may exceed the withstanding temperature of the switching element. This may damage the switching element.